This invention relates to a disk device or unit for recording and reproducing information relative to a disk such as an optical disk, and more particularly to a disk device provided with a vibration-insulating mechanism for preventing external vibrations from being transmitted to a disk drive mechanism portion.
One example of a mechanism for loading a cartridge, containing a disk therein, into a predetermined position of a mechanism chassis of a conventional disk device, is one, e.g. as disclosed in Japanese Patent No. 2,641,984, in which the cartridge is moved toward the mechanism chassis to be loaded into the predetermined position of the mechanism chassis. One example of a mechanism for preventing external vibrations from being transmitted to a mechanism chassis is one, e.g. as disclosed in Japanese Patent Unexamined Publication No. 2-61881, in which the mechanism chassis is mounted on a box-like casing with vibration-insulating members such as rubber put therebetween.
When the cartridge is moved toward the mechanism chassis to be loaded into the predetermined position of the mechanism chassis as described above, an unusable space is formed on that side of the cartridge, not facing the mechanism chassis, since the cartridge is moved toward the mechanism chassis. When the mechanism chassis is mounted on the box-like casing with the vibration-insulating members such as rubber put therebetween so that external vibrations will not be transmitted to a head on the mechanism chassis, it is necessary to secure a vibration-insulating space between the mechanism chassis and the box-like casing so that the mechanism chassis will not strike against the casing even when the mechanism chassis is shaken upward and downward by the vibrations.
The thickness of the disk device is determined by the sum of the thickness of the cartridge, the thickness of the space, formed as a result of movement of the cartridge, the thickness of the mechanism chassis and the thickness of the vibration-insulating space. Therefore, the thin design of the disk device has been achieved by reducing each of these thicknesses, but it is difficult to reduce the disk device into a thickness less than the above sum.